The Bootleg Files: Uncle Tom’s Bungalow

Posted on June 19, 2026 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 941: “Uncle Tom’s Bungalow” (1937 animated short directed by Tex Avery).

LAST SEEN: On Vimeo.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: An excerpt was featured in a 1989 VHS video release.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was withdrawn from circulation.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: None.

The slavery era represented one of the most painful chapters of American history, and the idea of making a comedy out of this tragedy is incomprehensible. Incredibly, the Warner Bros. animation unit thought it would be a fun idea to take Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery landmark “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and turn it into a breezy, irreverent romp.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964)

Posted on June 17, 2026 by Phil Hall

Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpré
Music by Bill Lava

The denizens of the forest are in a panic with the approach of the Tasmanian Devil, but Bugs Bunny is unaware of the peril because he is taking a soapy bath in a pond. Taz tastes the soap covering Bugs’ body, but dislikes it and washes it off with a bucket of water – and then the bucket gets dumped on Bugs’ head. When Taz pours ketchup on Bugs’ head in preparation of eating him, Bugs becomes melodramatic and insists he’s bleeding. He sends Taz off for medical assistance, not realizing that he is soon dealing with Bugs in multiple disguises as a general practitioner, a psychiatrist, a maternity ward nurse, and a surgeon.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)

Posted on June 3, 2026 by Phil Hall

Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson
Music by Bill Lava

Bugs Bunny is burrowing his way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but winds up in Pittsburghe, Transylvania. After engaging in a brief conversation with a two-headed lady vulture, he ventures to an eerie castle (which he mistakes for a motel) in search of a telephone to call his travel agent. The castle belongs to the vampire Count Bloodcount, who convinces Bugs to spend the night. Unable to sleep, Bugs finds a book of magic phrases and begins to read them aloud, not realizing that he is changing Count Bloodcount into a bat and then back into his human form – always at the worst possible moment.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963)

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Phil Hall

Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Tom Ray, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, Harry Love
Music by Bill Lava

In this strange experiment at cartoon cross-pollination, Bugs Bunny is brought in as a replacement of the Road Runner – he explains to the confused viewer that the celebrated bird “sprained a giblet cornering a sharp curve the other day, so I’m standing in for him.”
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bill of Hare (1962)

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Phil Hall

Bill of Hare (1962)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpré, Keith Darling
Music by Milt Franklyn

The Snodgrass Scientific Expedition has returned by cargo ship from Australia with the Tasmanian Devil in a crate. However, the net that holds the crate breaks during the offloading process. The crate smashes open and the Tasmanian Devil is free to sink to the ship. Once on the land, Taz comes across Bugs Bunny preparing a meal. Taz tries to make Bugs the main course, but the rascally rabbit continuously outsmarts the antipodean omnivore.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wet Hare (1962)

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Phil Hall

Wet Hare (1962)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by David Detiege
Animation by Keith Darling, Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpre’
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny lives at the base of a waterfall that he uses as a shower. When the French-Canadian roughneck Blacque Jacque Shellacque dams the river and declares ownership of the water source, Bugs engages in an ongoing effort to destroy Jacque’s dams and let the water flow.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Compressed Hare (1961)

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Phil Hall

Compressed Hare (1961)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by Dave Detiege
Animation by Bob Bransford, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Tom Ray, Harry Love
Music by Milt Franklyn

“Compressed Hare” is one of the stronger Bugs Bunny cartoons to emerge in the early 1960s, with inventive gags and stylish animation that harkened back to the series’ halcyon days in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There is even a sampling of Raymond Scott’s instrumental “Powerhouse” that had been missing from the cartoon soundtracks for too many years.
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